Many thanks for your thoughts, Nick! On Sat, 23 Nov 2019 at 02:36, Nick Bolten <[email protected]> wrote: > > I would propose that under an expansive definition it be thought of this way: > a "footway link" is a path connecting pedestrian-accessible ways that is not, > itself, a centerline of a designated physical pedestrian space.
Wouldn't this mean that any footpath leading into a road would need to be split for its last few metres, like the last 3 m of the path here?: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/413988097 I doubt that this were very useful, but would only complicate mapping. If you want to know the precise location where the footpath begins or ends, it should be possible to get that information from the road width or area:highway=*. Besides, only defining footway links, but e.g. not connections of tracks with roads (example [1]) or of roads with other roads (example [2]) seems quite arbitrary. I think the only situation where such links are really required is when connecting two adjacent parallel ways (your point 1), like for example a road and a sidewalk, a parallel cycle path [3] or parallel steps, as such a connection isn't an extension of either way (the 3 m in the example above is the extension of the foot path, but the connection of an ending sidewalk with the road is neither sidewalk nor road). I am thinking about a definition like "a footway/cycleway/path=link is a way that is used to change from a road to an adjacent parallel path". > 3. Transitioning from a sidewalk to a crossing, where both are separately > mapped: [...] It's that short path that extends from the sidewalk to the > street. That short way definitely isn't a separate sidewalk (no lateral kerb, not parallel to the road), but the extension of the crosswalk. In my opinion there isn't a necessity tag it differently – if the width of the sidewalk is specified, it is clear where the crosswalk begins. While it wouldn't harm if people tag that short way or the extension of a path that is inside the area of a road as footway=link, i think that this shouldn't be a requirement. > 4. Plazas. While it is possible to extract many plausible paths through > pedestrian area features, there is value in simply mapping the most direct > paths and not requiring data consumers to become intimately familiar with > skeletonization algorithms or robotics pathfinding. Mapping canonical paths > through plazas as links allows both options: they can be ignored (as they are > acknowledged to be connections rather than distinct paths) or consumed > directly. This is a very different situation from the connections i have in mind. Besides, these aid ways likely aren't verifiable. > 5. Short paths to building entrances from sidewalks, other footways. [...] > > 6. Short paths that deviate slightly from centerlines to make use of > facilities, but are still related to those other footways. [...] Could you please give me some examples for these two points? [1]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/893450790 [2]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/506223281 [3]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/518400616 Best regards Markus _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
